The Bigger World
by jls62113
Summary: The Grimes' household is a split camp. Rick is dealing and Michonne and Carl are being themselves, but now ain't the time for that. Rick needs their support. This may be in chapters, it depends on which direction the show goes.


**Chapter 1**

Just before dawn Rick stood on the porch looking around at the now empty, and littered streets of Alexandria wishing the air he was breathing was free. The fall weather was approaching, but he hardly noticed the cooler temperatures he enjoyed. A feeling of someone approaching on his left made the hair on the back of his neck stand on end. Naturally he focused on that feeling while starting to reach for what was no longer there, his side arm. In one fluid motion he turned and stepped to one side.

"Come out." He said firmly.

"You have good instincts Rick."

"They weren't so good the first time we met."

He reached out his hand and shook that of Paul Rovia.

"Rick I'm sorry for your losses."

"Thank you. How's Maggie and Sasha?"

"They're good. We keep them hidden, just in case. Last night we were paid a visit by the saviors. They had a confrontation with Gregory and tried to burn us out. They let walkers in as they left, but Sasha and I were able to contain them."

"We can't help you, I'm sorry. Negan was just here and took all our guns."

Jesus smiled at Rick and reached in the breast pocket of his long coat.

"This is a start."

He pulled out a gun and Rick quickly looked around to see if anyone was looking.

"Looking into the barrel while this thing was pointed at me was quite impressive."

Rick took the Colt Python from him and gave him a curious look.

"How did you get it?" Rick said grateful the gun was fully loaded. He looked in Jesus' eyes and let the mystery stand and just nodded.

"Thank you."

"It belongs with you."

Rick had to look away for a moment; feeling a little more of himself with the Colt in his hand.

"We have work to do. We need to gather people together and we'll need a leader which is you."

"I don't think I want to lead again. I never wanted to in the first place."

"Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them."

"That's for sure." Rick said scoffing at the truth of that quote. "Where are we going?" Rick said conceding to his unshakable fate.

"You'll see when we get there. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised. This place just might make all the difference, and you look like you need a little hope."

Rick looked at Jesus for a long moment wanting with all his heart to trust what he was saying. Needing a little hope right now was the biggest understatement of his life. He holstered his gun and motioned for Jesus to follow him into the house. The glimmer of hope from Jesus ached in his chest and he was reluctant to trust it. What he knew about Jesus was very little, but he did know the man had seen more of what they hadn't, and that in itself made him curious to see it for himself.

He went upstairs and found his family still sleeping. He knelt down and kissed Michonne's cheek. She flinched and then opened her eyes.

"What is it?" She said searching his eyes. The early morning light reflected off the chrome of his gun, drawing her eyes to it.

"Jesus brought it to me. I'm going with him. He said he has a place to show me."

Her eyes were full of concern and she sat up.

"He said what he has to show me could make all the difference. I have to go."

She finally nodded and he kissed her, then he stood and looked at her for a moment longer and without another word, he left the room.

Michonne sat there looking at the doorway he just walked through. She jumped up, quickly got dressed and ran down the stairs carrying her socks and shoes.

Jesus looked up at her while she walked down the stairs.

"Hello." He said to her.

"Hi."

"Don't worry, I'll take care of him."

"I don't doubt it." She said looking at Rick.

Jesus looked from Michonne to Rick and then back to Michonne again. He figured this anxiety between them must be the fallout from what Negan was doing to them.

"I'll wait outside." Jesus said turning and going through the door.

Michonne stood by Rick until he looked in her eyes.

"What if you're caught with your gun?"

He looked down at the ground and then up to her eyes.

"I don't plan on that happening. If it does, I don't think whoever catches me will survive to tell anyone."

He turned away briefly to avoid looking directly at her.

"Rick." She said weakly.

He turned to her and looked into her eyes.

"I'm still here Michonne."

She searched his eyes and knew exactly what he meant.

"You know as well as I do that you have to pick your moment. I've never stopped looking for one. I'll see you soon." He said briefly touching her shoulder.

She turned and watched him walk out the door and join Jesus in the street. Inhaling deeply she turned to her bag and filled it with a canteen and some fruit. As she prepared to go out, Carl came downstairs and stopped just short of where she stood.

"Is everything alright, I mean with you and my dad?"

She looked up at him as if she didn't understand what he had said.

"Why didn't you go with him?" Carl asked wishing she would stop moving and talk to him.

"He didn't ask me to." She said checking her bag for the tenth time.

"Michonne." Carl said touching her arm.

She picked up her katana from the table and finally looked at him.

"We are under a lot of stress right now."

"Do you think my dad is giving in?"

She glared at Carl frowning at what he was stating.

"There are times when you act, and times when you wait. Your dad knows what he has to do."

"But you don't agree with it."

"Carl, it's not that easy. I don't agree with it because I'm angry and I'm having a hard time accepting how things are now. I want to act, but now is not the time and your father knows that."

"You and I could act. We could do something."

"No." She said looking seriously at Carl.

"We could." He said pleading.

"No!" She said again raising her voice.

Carl stopped talking and looked at Michonne. He saw a look in her eyes he hadn't seen since he first saw her at the prison.

"I told your dad I would try to accept how we have to live now. That includes you too. I mean it Carl. He wants us to try. Even if we don't want to, we should do it for him."

"He's a coward."

Michonne looked at Carl with eyes full of fury. She slowly walked toward him causing him to back up.

"Don't you ever say that about your father again." She said pointing at him. "How do you think you got here? You didn't get here by yourself. I didn't get you here, it was your dad! Who is always the first one in and the last one to leave? Your dad! When those men attacked us on the road and threatened to rape you, what did your dad do Carl?"

"He killed them." Carl said afraid not to answer.

"Eugene, by his own admission is a coward. Is your father like him?"

Carl looked at her with wide eyes and shook his head.

"It takes more courage to be your father right now than you or I will ever know because he's the leader."

She looked at Carl with tears streaming down her face.

"I'm ashamed of you right now." She said turning away, then she turned back to him. "He needs your support not you throwing a tantrum because he won't pull out a gun with six bullets in it to kill over 100 men. You want to be treated like and adult then you better start acting like one and right now because there's no time for childish antics like the one you pulled yesterday. Your decision to pull that gun caused us to lose all our weapons. When your dad told me about that he didn't say what you did was stupid, which it was, he said he was proud of you, but that your timing was off. That's how you support someone you love."

Michonne looked down at the floor letting her own words penetrate her thoughts about her tantrum. In a way she was acting just like Carl. She thought Rick should be doing more but he couldn't, not now, and she knew that. She inhaled and spoke softer now.

"Your dad's afraid of what Negan has done to us and what he still could do to us. That man is dangerous and if anything happened to you or Judith…"

Her voice trailed off as a tear slid down from her eye.

"I know it's been difficult for you growing up during this time, and it hurts your dad knowing he can't give you a safe and happy life. You've seen too much and it's changed you, but for us who are older, we had fairly good lives before the outbreak. We never had to worry about the enormous amount of evil we've seen. You're strong Carl, but you're very young. Negan and his men will hurt you if they get a chance. Your dad and I have a difference of opinion on how to move forward, but I'll support whatever he decides to do whether I like it or not. If you have a different opinion than his, talk to him and him alone about it. He is the leader still and needs to have our support or no one will want to follow him and we need him, all of us."

She stood there for a moment very torn and angry. She needed to get out for a while and clear her head.

"Stay close to home." She said grabbing her bag and she quickly walked out the door.

As she walked back out to the open field, she was ashamed of how she was behaving too. For Rick's sake her anger will have to wait for another time. Fresh tears flowed down her face as she imaged how angry he must be.


End file.
